Tips for Safeguarding Your Business Against Fraud

As the end of the year approaches, so does tax season and for businesses, getting all your tax documents and records in order is key to navigating the process easily. The issue is, that most organizations have years of tax documents onsite, including receipts, invoices and more. These documents, whether in file cabinets or stored somewhere in an office are important, but keeping them for an extended period of time can pose a risk to your company’s security. Here are some tips on safe disposal and retention.

How Long Is Too Long?

The IRS suggests that all businesses keep everything related to each tax return until the time period for an audit has passed. The general time period is three years, but depending on your business it could be a little longer. In addition, they can audit businesses for up to 6 years for failing to report income and up to 7 years for taking a deduction on bad debt. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to assess how many years of tax returns you’re holding onto and go through any additional supporting paperwork.

What Documents Pose a Threat to Security?

Any documents that have confidential information, like account numbers, sales and spending account records, business credit card accounts, cancelled checks and bank account information is subject to corporate ID theft. In addition, paperwork that contains personal information about your clients, like their names, addresses, credit and bank account information, even their account number with your company, can be enough for a criminal to steal their identity or breach your company’s data. These documents should never be laying around and in many cases can be scanned, stored digitally and then shredded to safeguard against theft.

How to Safely Dispose of Confidential Documents

The most important thing to consider when managing your company tax records is how to discard those documents you no longer need. Because the information contained in those records is highly confidential and poses a risk to your organization’s security, it’s critical that they are never just thrown away or recycled. Once tax records have passed their date of necessity, they should be securely shredded by a licensed and insured shredding provider. In-house company shredders are not a safe option because they cannot destroy the documents in the same effectiveness as that a professional shredding service.

When it comes to your corporate tax returns, it’s critical that you stay on top of all of your records and paperwork and ensure that you are not holding onto too many years of past returns and that once they are no longer needed, they are disposed of safely.

All Points Mobile Shredding is committed to helping you protect your company against ID theft and data breaches. We provide shredding and destruction for companies throughout South Florida, from Okeechobee County to Broward County, including the Treasure Coast and Palm Beach. Give us a call today or fill out this form to get more information.